Leica X-U: The Toughest Leica Camera Yet

If you don’t know about Leica, here’s what you need to know: they are amazing. High end, top performance, and certainly worth their expensive prices. You buy a Leica when price is no object but anything less than perfection is unacceptable. However, they are expensive pieces of equipment, what if you want to do some shoots in the rain or maybe even underwater? You’d be mental to take a Leica out in any sort of inclement weather…until now. The Leica X-U is now available for those of you who have been limited to lesser cameras in exchanged for more rugged capabilities. Let’s dive in!

Looks

Saying the X-U looks good is like saying the latest Star Wars movie did good in theaters; it’s just a gross understatement. Leica makes elegant, stylish cameras and the X-U follows in that tradition by sacrificing almost nothing in the way of visual appeal. It keeps the same polished look while adding the layers of protection for more extreme usage. It’s an excellent combination; other companies could learn something from Leica when they want to make ruggedized versions of their products.

So you get good looks and exceptional build quality plus it’s waterproof and dustproof. With a price tag of just under $3000, you really do get what you pay for.

What It Does

As with all Leica products, the real value of the X-U is in its performance. Without getting in too deep into the technical details, it’s safe to say that the X-U will take some of the best pictures a casual photography will ever take. Getting into the technical details, it has a 16.5 megapixel sensor and the non swappable lense has a focal length of 23mm. The X-U also has a f/1.7 maximum aperture so low light and shallow depth of field shots while come out looking amazing as usual.

Leica also intended the X-U to be used by amateurs so they’ve added an easy access button so you don’t have to fuss about too much before taken some excellent underwater pictures. Think spur of the moment events as opposed to a planned underwater shoot. However, the manual adjustments are available for those who do want to take some purposeful underwater pictures. The X-U also records video at 1080p and 60 frames per second so you can make some decent videos as well. No 4K here unfortunately but this is definitely more of a photography than a cinematography camera. Is it right for you?